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David Birch, Director, 15Mb

David is an author, advisor and commentator on digital financial services. He leads the advisory practice 15Mb Ltd, is Global Ambassador for secure electronic transactions consultancy Consult Hyperion (which he helped to found), Technology Fellow at the London-based think-tank the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey Business School, alongside several board-level advisory roles.

Among numerous accolades, David was named one of the global top 15 sources of business information by Wired magazine, was ranked in the top three most influential people in London’s FinTech community by City A.M. and awarded Contributor of the Year 2018 by the Emerging Payments Association. David has been described in the UK newspaper The Independent as “one of the world’s leading experts on digital money.”

Søren Mogensen, Head of Business Management and Growth, Banking Circle

Søren Mogensen joined Banking Circle in 2019. He was previously Senior Vice President and Head of Group Strategy & Transformation at Danske Bank. In this role he operationalised the biggest transformation in the bank’s history. 

Prior to joining Danske Bank, Søren spent five years in financial services at McKinsey & Company and studied Accounting and Finance at Copenhagen Business School, along with a Master’s in Economics and Business Administration and later a Financial MBA at the University of Cambridge. He was also a First Lieutenant in the Royal Danish Army.

Tony McLaughlin, Managing Director, Transaction Banking, Citi

Tony McLaughlin is responsible for emerging payments and business development in Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) business. Tony works on Citi’s ‘Future of Money’ strategy, is responsible for the TTS e-commerce proposition and is deeply involved in new methods of payment, distributed ledger and fintech engagements. He provides advice on the future of payments to governments, regulators, fintechs, big tech and other corporates and financial institutions.

He joined Citi in 2004 and has been the cash management head for Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong, and the global transaction services head for the United Kingdom, spearheading Citi’s engagement with large public sector clients and payment aggregators. Tony was responsible for the design and development of ABN AMRO’s third party continuous linked settlement (CLS) offering, core electronic banking platform and its transactional foreign exchange solution.

Ģirts Bērziņš, Head of Digital Innovation and Strategy, Digital Banking, Swedbank

Girts Bērziņš has a strong IT and business management background, having held various senior positions at Swedbank Group in all home markets. Ģirts has managed cards business, branch network, IT and administration services, retail banking and Channels Competence Centre. Ģirts has also worked for Lattelecom as its chief technology officer.

For the past two years Ģirts has been the head of digital strategy and innovation at Swedbank Group dealing with innovation, open banking and fintech partnership topics. Ģirts has masters degree in economy from University of Latvia, where he has also studied law.

Juan Jimenez Zaballos, Head of Financial Industry Transformation, Santander Digital

Juan Jiménez Zaballos (JJ) is the head of financial industry transformation within the platforms team at Santander. Among other responsibilities, he is in charge of building the open banking platform for B2B businesses for the group worldwide, including identity, onboarding, open APIs and ecosystem – the various pieces that underpin the open platform.

Prior to that, Juan was the was on the corporate innovation board for Santander Group, and held several positions as chief of staff to the head of global banking and markets, a banker for UK & Switzerland institutional clients, and head of strategy and business development for European Equities. Juan holds a Business Administration honours degree by UAM and a Master in Finance, Treasury, Risks and Capital Markets by IEB Madrid, as well as an MBA in Leadership and Innovation by IE Madrid. He is Faculty Professor in the IE Law School and ESADE.

Sibylle Strack, CEO, Kontist

Sibylle Strack is one of Germany’s leading specialists in payment and banking. She has more than 25 years’ experience in financial services and FinTech. She was head of current accounts and payments strategy at the German Savings Banks Association (DSGV), providing strategic direction for the future to its 400 independent member Sparkassen, which holds 50% of the retail banking market in Germany. Prior to joining DSGV, she held senior positions in the financial services business of the international consultancy Accenture, advising banks in Germany and abroad. She joined Kontist in 2018 and as CEO plays an essential role in transforming Kontist from a fast growing fintech company to a customer-centric service that improves freelancers' finances and business outlook by offering a value proposition far beyond traditional banking.

Sibylle also has broad board expertise, including with Mastercard in Germany and foodwatch, a European customer rights organisation.

Valentina Kristensen, Director, Growth & Communications, OakNorth

Valentina Kristensen is the director of growth and communications at OakNorth, where she has worked prior to the launch by its founders in June 2015. Valentina is a passionate advocate for improving the female talent pipeline and closing the gender pay gap in financial services, sitting on the Steering Committee for FinTECHTalents, and being ElevatHer's first ambassador for the UK.